[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: fetching the text value of an element inside an element
Michael Champion <mc@x...> writes: > On Jan 18, 2004, at 8:21 AM, Fredrik Lindgren wrote: > > > I wonder if there is a business case for setting up a company > > reselling free software to get around sceptical management. I mean, > > without changing or really supporting the actual software, just > > charging for it. ;-). Xalan specifically (what the OP mentioned) you can by for as high a price as you like from just such a company. Name's IBM. > I've had inquiries along these lines from the sales force of my > employer (whose customers tend to be conservative, mainframe-centric > shops). My newbie-to-the-mainframe-world response was something like > "why would they want to buy something they can get for free?" The > answer was basically that they want someone take responsibility for > evaluating and testing code, who they can call when something breaks > and be sure of an immediate response. "Take responsibility" is a bit vague. Is your sales force looking to sell service level agreements for third-part software -- more like insurance underwrites, "we guarantee 99.9998 uptime, or we pay you the agreed amount"? Or more like investment advice -- "the reviewers and their employer have done their best but no warranty of fitness is implied. past performance is not a guarantee of future returns"? > Not to get too far off topic, but "free" software is only free if you > have the people with the time and expertise to exploit it effectively > for your organization. There are plenty of companies out there who > find it cheaper to license software for $50K/year Wouldn't it be just as true to say that /any/ software is useless if you don't have the people with the time and expertise to exploit it effectively for your organization? I haven't been a mainframe user for a while, maybe the software got more self-explanatory and user friendly :=) And bug-free. Ari. -- Elections only count as free and trials as fair if you can lose money betting on the outcome.
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